Come out to play

The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful and so is Launceston’s Festivale

The live entertainment line-up is impressive this year as well, adding to the overall atmosphere of a giant party, a rolling open air concert that happens to include access to a selection of some of the state’s best food and beverages.

Live music starts from 4pm Friday, featuring headline acts Eskimo Joe and Motor Ace, with music starting from 11am Saturday and 10am Sunday, featuring Vanessa Amorosi on Saturday night and the Whitlams on Sunday afternoon.

The popular live stand-up comedy stage returns this year as well with a line-up that includes Denise Scott and Matt Okine.

And a series of cooking demonstrations will be held across Saturday and Sunday, including special guest celebrity chef Karen Martini best known for her roles as a chef on lifestyle show Better Homes and Gardens and judge on cooking competition show My Kitchen Rules.

So, with general admission starting from $25 per adult, Dunn says it is pretty good value entertainment for the day.

“Motor Ace did a live concert not long ago that was $65 per ticket, and that was just to see one band,” he says. “At Festivale, you can see them, and Eskimo Joe and three other support acts, all in one evening. Last year, the venue was at capacity on the Saturday night, we couldn’t fit anyone else in. And some of our masterclasses for this year are already sold out.”

All of which raises that annual spectre of paid admission for the festival. Festivale is something of an oddity in that people are generally comfortable with paying an entry fee to enjoy the atmosphere and entertainment on offer, whereas the mere mention of a gold coin entry fee at the Taste in Hobart is likely to make people march on the waterfront with pitchforks and burning torches.

But Dunn says the organising committees for both the Taste and Festivale meet regularly to share ideas and experiences, each learning from the other, trying to make their events better together, and he says that while they do share clear similarities, they are simply very different beasts.

“Sure, there are still some people who aren’t happy to pay to come to Festivale, but we still have a packed venue every year for all three days, so we think we’ve got the balance just right. “While the Taste is heavily focused on the food and does that very well, people who come to Festivale are coming for that whole event experience, the music, the comedy, and we market it as such.”

Karen Martini is definitely focused on the food, though, the Melbourne-based chef champing at the bit to demonstrate a new recipe to festival-goers and then check out the rest of the food on offer for herself.

“I’m planning to do a Thai-inspired rice paper roll with lime leaves, white pepper, chicken and prawns, which will be deep fried like a spring roll,” she says. “I’ll be changing it up a bit from the Italian-inspired stuff I’ve done before.”

Martini was a guest at Festivale two years ago and jumped at the opportunity to return and do another demonstration for the festival.

“I really enjoyed the festival last time, it has such an amazing vibe,” she says. “I love the enthusiasm of everyone who’s there, and there’s always a cram of people at the airport because so many people fly in for it. “I remember trying some locally made cheese, which was incredible. And some fabulous cakes and doughnuts with these crazy flavours. I plan to get there early on the Saturday so I can walk around a bit, say hello to the stallholders, just soak it up for a while.”

Martini is also hosting a special lunch event at Stillwater Restaurant on the Friday but the event has already sold out.

Most of all, she says she loves the interactiveness of doing live cooking demonstrations.

“Even if it’s 10 people sitting in front of me, it still has that really friendly, intimate feeling, you get those interactions, you can see their faces, the enjoyment in their eyes.

“I love being able to educate and inspire people like that. And the conversations with the MC are always good: you never know what questions you’re going to get asked, so who knows what you might find out!”

Festivale runs from Friday January 31 to Sunday February 2 in Launceston’s City Park. General admission tickets are $25 on Friday (4pm-11pm), $30 on Saturday (11am-11pm) and $15 on Sunday (10am-4pm), or $55 for a three-day pass. See the website for full details. festivale.com.au